A missed opportunity for Japan’s startup ecosystem

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from KPCB Internet Trends report (click to enlarge)

From KPCB’s internet trends report released yesterday, comes an interesting factoid:

60% of the top 25 tech companies [were] founded by 1st and 2nd generation Americans. (p.148, see table above)

I thought this would be a good time to revisit the question we asked this time last year:

As the race for high-skilled immigrants begins, does Japan want to compete?

To help address that question, here’s a quote from Japanese PM Shinzo Abe from a recent TV interview, cited/translated by The Japan Times:

What are immigrants? The U.S. is a country of immigrants who came from all around the world and formed the (United States). Many people have come to the country and become part of it. We won’t adopt a policy like that.

That strategy may prove unwise.

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Japanese PM Shinzo Abe